Fonda Colombiana — Restaurant in San Jose

What a frustrating and unbelievable experience tonight.. I placed an online order for 2 Tamales from the Snell Avenue location. 10 minutes after placing the order and as I was on my way to pick it up, I get a call from the restaurant saying they were out of Tamales and they would be cancelling the order. It would’ve been nice to know sooner rather than when the customer is almost at the restaurant, but okay. So I then placed the same order for the location off of White Road. After arriving 20 minutes later, I was then informed that they are out of stock as well! They didn’t even bother to call to inform me, they waited until I was at the restaurant to tell me. If the first location was able to call to let me know, they could have as well. Why sit around and wait for the customer to show up to let them know in person? Not just that, but the girl at the register was very rude.. She said “It’s not my problem, it’s the system that’s the problem. I didn’t do anything wrong.” What!? So after looking at the menu, the only other item I wanted was pricier.. so for the inconvenience and now needing to wait there while they start the order, I asked if they could upgrade to the pricier item. The girl didn’t know what to do, so she tried calling the owner for help. Apparently the owner was at the club so the owner didn’t answer, so she refused to upgrade the order. I’m sorry, but that’s bad customer service. If you guys mess up and the customer is asking for a simple request to upgrade the order for the inconvenience and to make the situation right, you should do the right thing to keep the customer happy and to come back next time.. After that, I decided to just cancel the order and ask for a refund. Keep in mind, the subtotal was $38.48, tax of $3.61, and a $2.48 service fee, totaling $44.47. She claimed she could only refund $38.48. What?? I paid $44.47 and didn’t receive anything, I need a full refund of what I paid. She said that she can’t refund the tax and service charge. Unbelievable incompetence, that’s not how it works here! Maybe in Colombia, but not here. So after explaining that I need the FULL refund, she finally gave the refund of what I had paid. Keep in mind, not one single apology or I’m sorry the entire time I was there. The girl was rude the entire time and just didn’t care about the situation I was put in. Never experienced something like this from a restaurant...

The worst food ever and really heavy environment. We went for first time to this Colombian restaurant and we found several disgusting things. As soon you arrives you can notice a dirty wall announcement that is falling down from one of the walls, once by they door we have to wait because nobody was in charge to seat you. We ask for a table outside even the sourondings were not clean, they were papers and bottles on the ground making a not pleasant view next the dirty dark spots everywhere. We ask for out table outside because they had inside a music with a very high volume, we can't heard each other at one feet. When we got our table outside, we got alarmed with the yelling of a woman from inside of restaurant, she was using a really spanish bad words and profanities for several times, this behavior continued for all the time we were there. When finally we got the menu it was dirty and in a bad shape, after several minutes more than 10 we had to ask to a different server if someone were able to take our order. Finally our food arrived, but the lady that were serving us was not paying attention to our needs, she brought the food but she forgot to bring plates to serve the food we were sharing, we had to call her and ask for plates. About the food, we had a "Picada" and it was terrible. Food looks like it wasn't fresh and it was shinny because the amount of grease it had over. The food flavor wasn't pleasant too, the general flavor was greasy but that kind some restaurants use and reuse for several days without replacing it for a fresh one, so the food had any natural flavor. I can say this restaurant NO represent in any way the Colombian kitchen. Finally the best time arrived, the time of leaving this place to not come back again, now we can rest of the louder music, now more louder than at the beginning, be free of the bad service and chew a bubble gum to quit the greasy taste we still having in our mouth. We DON'T RECOMMEND THIS...

Mixed reviews. To start the food is good. They have colombiana sodas which I enjoy. The carne empanadas were good. Good flavor and crust. The pico was more mexican than it was colombian. They can step that up. I had the bandeja paisa. I asked for Carne asada instead of ground beef. Great dish, all the meats were good. The beans could of used a bit more flavor. Wish they could focus on cocktails as well. The music and vibes were great.

The bad: Neighborhood is a bit sketch, although its expected being east San Jose. Nothing that Im not used to. They did recently add security so that should put out of town patrons at ease. The service was sloooooowwwwwwww. I went on a Friday night 8PM. They really need a third server during peak hours. I will probably limit my visits to strictly lunch Dine-ins or To-Gos until they increase dinner staffing.

Overall: Good experience. I miss Colombian 🇨🇴 Food. I am Dominican 🇩🇴 but grew up in NY/NJ eating at "Noches de Colombia", "Cositas Ricas" in Queens, etc. I've been to Medellin and Cartagena. I believe I'm certified to be a good judge of comida Colombiana.

I can say this place is legit. I gave 5 stars to support this place. Love Colombian culture and the vibes. I hope they start a chain of future Fonda restaurants to come. California needs it. We need a little Caribbean and South American swag out here! Keep up the good work. Don't...